


Lifelines

by craterdweller



Category: Stargate - All Media Types, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Comfort, Friendship, Gen, Non-Canon Relationship, post-episode s02e13 Critical Mass
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:35:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26862232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/craterdweller/pseuds/craterdweller
Summary: Steven Caldwell gets help from an unexpected source while recovering in the SG-1 infirmary.
Relationships: Samantha Carter & Steven Caldwell
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20
Collections: Trope Bingo: Round Fifteen





	Lifelines

**Author's Note:**

> Trope Bingo: non-canonical relationship

Steven Caldwell stared at the pencil stuck in the ceiling tile. At one time, he might have wondered when or how it got there, but right now, he couldn’t be bothered. He heard footsteps approaching his private room in the infirmary and pretended to be asleep. With luck, the unwanted visitor would go away.

Light footsteps crossed the room, and he heard someone settle into the chair next to his bed.

“I know what you are going through, Colonel.”

_Not likely._

Sam Carter booted up a laptop and said nothing for a few minutes.

 _What the hell?_ Dr. Lam said they were not going to debrief him yet. He wondered if he should ring the buzzer and get one of the medical staff to throw her out. _Yeah, right._ He doubted anyone would throw out one of the legends of SG-1. _But what was she doing here?_

He heard her pause from her typing. “It was early in the second year of the program, SG-1 was on a rescue mission on a planet called Nasya. I had stopped to give CPR to an injured villager.” She paused and took a breath, lost in the memory. “He was a host to a Tok’ra named Jolinar of Malkshur. She invaded my body without permission. For two days, I was a prisoner in my own body. She used my voice, my memories to try and escape from the assassin that was trailing her.”

She waited, probably hoping he was going to open up to her. _Why bother? The Tok’ra were allies of a sort, whereas he had been taken over by an enemy Goa’uld. There would be no second chances for him. His career was over._

She stood and closed the lid on her laptop. “I’ll bet the memories and thoughts are all jumbled now. In time, you will sort them out. It helps to have someone or something to ground you. For me, it was Cassandra Fraiser, a young girl we rescued during our first year. Is there someone you would like me to have flown out here to sit with you?”

Steven felt the panic rise in his chest. He couldn’t let his wife see him like this! Maybe if he stayed silent, Carter would just go away.

“Alright, Sir. If you change your mind, or if you want to talk, one of the nurses can page me.”

She slipped out of the room, leaving Steven alone with his thoughts. _What the hell was he going to do now?_ He shuddered as a memory, not his own, replayed in his mind.

* * *

The pencil was still lodged in the ceiling, and Steven still had no clue how it got there. Presumably, someone stuck in the infirmary like him. Mercifully, he had been left alone to brood these last few days, but he expects the Air Force will have someone deliver his discharge papers soon. He wonders if it will be Landry or if O’Neill himself will bring it. He discards the last, it will probably be Paul Davis. O’Neill wouldn’t have time to spare for someone washing out.

Footsteps approach his door again. He’s sure he can tell most of the infirmary staff just by their walk. Tap, Tap.Tap.Tap. There is something familiar about the sounds he hears, but it is out of place. The door opens slowly, and he closes his eyes, pretending to sleep. He still doesn’t want to talk. Talking about it would make it real, and he prays every night that he will wake from this nightmare and find himself in his bunk on the _Daedalus_.

Tap-tap-tap-tap. His bed dips as something leaps onto the mattress. His face is covered with frantic licks. He reaches out a hand and finds long, familiar fur. The furiously wagging tail is accompanied by a pitiful whine. “Princess?” He cracks open one eye to be greeted by a low woof and his dog of nine years burrows into his side. “How …” Steven has to clear his throat as his disused voice is only a croak. He hasn’t spoken more than a few words in days.

He looks towards the door as it swings shut behind Sam Carter. He buries his face in his best friend’s fur, taking some small comfort in the animal’s unconditional love. The world seems a little less bleak, but he is still at a loss of what he will do.

* * *

There is a light rap on the door before Sam Carter slips into the room. Princess wags happily; apparently, she has decided Carter is a friend.

“Mind if I come in, Colonel?”

Caldwell nods towards the chair. Odd that the Air Force would send Carter, but they might as well get this out of the way. “It’s Steven, Colonel. I might as well get used to it.”

“Sir?” She patted Princess on the head as she pulled up the chair next to the bed.

“I always thought I would retire. I guess no one plans on washing out on a medical.” He avoided meeting her eyes, afraid he would find pity, and that was one thing he couldn’t take right now.

Sam’s eyes widened. “Sir, I’m not here in any official capacity. I only came by to see how you were doing.” She nodded towards Princess.

Steven cleared his throat to hide his embarrassment. _Of course, they wouldn’t send Carter for something so mundane._ Princess nudged his hand with her snout. If he didn’t know better, he would think the damn dog was trying to tell him something. He really must be losing it if he believes he can read his dog’s mind. “My apologies, Colonel. I guess I am a little out of sorts. The Air Force is all I’ve known, and I don’t know why I am still here in the infirmary. I would have thought they would have wanted to free up the bed space.”

“SG-11 came in with a few injuries. I’m sure Dr. Lam will be in soon to release you. The _Daedalus_ will be back from Atlantis in three weeks. Do you have plans for your downtime?”

“What?”

“I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t mean to overstep.” She got up as if to leave.

“No, wait. What do you mean? I’m not being discharged?”

“No, Sir.”

“But I was taken over by a Goa’uld. I don’t understand…”

Sam sat back down. “Like I said the other day, I know how you feel. Or at least I have some idea, as I’ve been there myself. Jolinar didn’t ask permission. One minute I was giving a man CPR; the next minute, I was a prisoner in my own body.”

Steven turned his head away. “But you said she was a Tok’ra…”

“At the time, we didn’t even know the Tok’ra existed.” Sam gave a bitter laugh. “And she certainly behaved more like a Goa’uld. She dug through all my memories and used them against my teammates. She terrorized a little girl and threatened Colonel O’Neill with my own weapon.”

Caldwell turned back to face her. “Are you still …” He stopped, unsure of how he could ask the question.

Sam shook her head. “Jolinar gave her life to save mine. That was the only thing that convinced Colonel O’Neill and General Hammond that what she had said about the existence of the Tok’ra was real.”

“How did you get them to trust you again? I mean, they obviously do.”

“People involved in the Stargate program are used to the unusual. For the most part. Those that can’t adapt are reassigned.” Sam shrugged. “The hardest person I had to convince was myself. But, in time, and with my team’s help, I regained my sense of self and started to trust again. And it is Sam.”

“And you had a touchstone.”

“Yes. It was General O’Neill that suggested they let Cassie visit.”

“And how did you know it would be Princess for me?”

“Actually, that was also General O’Neill. He noticed all the pictures of Princess when we spoke to Mrs. Caldwell.”

“Marion? She knows?”

Sam held up a hand, “Only that you were in the infirmary but would be released soon. General O’Neill wanted to check on her, as he wasn’t sure if you had been home.”

Steven swiped a hand over his eyes. “The bastard Goa’uld made love to her and kept taunting me with how easily he could hurt her. God, how can I face her?”

Sam touched his hand. “She seemed fine. Worried, for you, of course, but otherwise fine. General O’Neill said that if you want to read her into the program, he will authorize limited disclosure.”

“Would you?”

Sam grimaced. “I think it depends on the person. It didn’t work out too well for me when someone I was involved with was read in.”

“Marion is a former Air Force officer. She understands ‘need to know.’”

Sam’s eyebrows shot up.

“You didn’t know?”

Sam shook her head. _Odd, that O’Neill didn’t mention it._ “For some reason, she decided that I was worth it.”

“Just once I’d like to hear that a man gave up his career,” Dr. Carolyn Lam said with an eye roll as she made a note on Caldwell’s chart. “Colonel Carter, if you would excuse us, I need to process Colonel Caldwell here so I can free up this bed.”

“Certainly.” She made her way to the door.

“Sam?”

She paused in the doorway, turning back to look at him.

“Thank you. And tell Jack thanks as well.” He almost missed the slight duck of her head and the pink tint to her cheeks. Whatever Carter’s story, Steven would be glad to count her as a friend.


End file.
